Painting Mary
by BrightSnake
Summary: Ib dreamed of painting Mary one night, and realized that it was the closest thing she'll ever get to meeting Mary ever again. So, with a paintbrush in hand, she sets out to paint Mary. Takes place after the game ended, and filled with tons of headcanons. Slice of life kind of story.
1. Chapter 1: Wish

Even though Mary tried to kill Garry and her, Ib felt sorry for that girl. Mary was just lonely, and loneliness could drive people to do some pretty crazy things. And when Mary wasn't trying to murder, she was actually a really nice person to be with. If Garry, Ib, and Mary had met under different circumstances, Ib was completely certain that they would have definitely been friends, and be together smiling happily ever after.

Sighing, Ib flopped down on her bed, and stared up at the glow-in-the-dark star stickers on the ceiling. It's been several months already. Why wouldn't she just let it go? But still... She wished things could have turned out differently. If she had tried to be more friendly to Mary. If she had tried to be less friendly to Mary. There were so many things she could have done, but didn't, and one of them might have lead to a happy ending.

Turning around on the bed, Ib stared out the window, into the dark sky. Glimmering, far in the distance, was a pinprick of light. The first star of the night, a wishing star. Closing her eyes, Ib made a wish. _If only there was a way to..._

Ib drew her brow together. No, she's not going to wish for a way for them all to be together forever. That was too unrealistic. She didn't want to tire out the poor wishing star. She'll wish for something more realistic. Something...

_I wish I could see Mary again._

Pressing her eyelids tightly together, she whispered it under her breath again and again until she fell asleep.

The next morning, she woke up; her mind still hazy with the fog of sleep, and the remnants of her dreams. Her dreams swirled and blended together. Garry painted Mary while Mary and Ib ate sandwiches together. Mary kept on wandering over to Garry, and telling him she was being drawn all wrong, and Ib kept telling Garry how horrible his sandwiches are. Garry was pouting, and Mary was laughing. Ib found herself drifting over to a canvas, and painting Mary. The painting of Mary was soon finished, and Mary grinned at her, telling Ib how much better than Garry's picture it was, and how it was practically like a mirror. Then, suddenly, it _was_ a mirror, and mimicked Mary's movements. Mary laughed, and so did Ib. Ib reached in, and took Mirror-Mary out, and everyone danced and played together.

When Ib finally woke up completely, she knew what to do. Idea fresh in her mind, she glanced up at her calendar. "May 1st" it proclaimed.

"May 1st," Ib solemnly announced. "I should remember that. May 1st shall be a very special day."

"Ib, are you going to come down?" a faint voice shouted, taking Ib out of her thoughts. "Breakfast is ready!"

Hurrying downstairs, Ib ate breakfast, hurried to school, and spent the entire school day daydreaming about her absolutely brilliant idea.

After school, when Garry arrived in his old, beaten-up van to pick her up, Ib climbed in. As she buckled in her seat belt, she asked, "Can I use your paints and stuff?"

"Sure," Garry replied agreeably. "Why do you need it?"

Ib smiled slightly. "It's a surprise," she replied evenly. In a slightly more hurried tone, she added, "Now drive like there's a painted lady behind you. I really want to start painting soon."

Garry smiled, glancing at Ib's eager face on the rear view mirror. "I understand your excitement, but I need to drive carefully," he replied evenly, slowly turning the car through the city streets.

Ib slumped down. "You drive like an old lady..." she grumbled as Garry stopped the car to let a cat pass.

A loud honk, however, surprised Garry, and with a jolt, he pressed down on the pedal, and the car sped forward quickly.

After an incredibly terrifying journey, Ib finally arrived at Garry's house. Shakily, she left the car, and wobbled into the house. However, as she moved towards the house, her steps became surer, and soon, she had fully recovered, and ran to Garry's storage room.

Stepping over various boxes of unfinished works and paints, Ib examined various paints and canvases. After inspecting the materials several ties, Ib took the newest looking paints, the largest canvas, and hauled them out of the small, dusty room.

"What do you plan on painting?" Garry asked as he walked pass with arms full of groceries.

Ib grunted in reply as she shoved the canvas against a wall with a loud boom. Color draining from his face, Garry whimpered, "M-my canvas... My _wall_."

Clearing his throat, Garry smiled, and suggested "H-how about you let me set up your art space for you? Let me just finish putting away my groceries."

"Don't worry, it's okay," Ib replied confidently.

"No it's not..." Garry breathed, looking mournfully at the wall. Seeing Ib's confused expression, Garry smiled again, and told her, "Nothing."

Ib nodded, satisfied with the answer, and sat down in front of the white canvas: neck craning up, eyes glaring at the canvas with determination, and paintbrush clenched tightly in hand. Squeezing yellow paint out of a tube, she glared fiercely at the paint and jabbed the paintbrush on it. Ib closed her eyes, and brought Mary's grinning face to her mind. Image vividly embedded, she lovingly approached the canvas, placed her brush on the canvas, and began to carefully paint an image of one she held dear.


	2. Chapter 2: Mary

After half an hour, Garry had finished putting away his groceries, and was quietly painting next to Ib, who was still concentrating on her painting. Suddenly, she stopped, and placed her paintbrush down. She took several steps back, and admired her handiwork.

The canvas was still blank aside from the misshapen bright yellow circle in the corner. Placing her hands in front of her in two Ls, she framed the circle, and tilted her head like how Garry sometimes did. After a while, she let her hands drop to the side, and wandered over to Garry's refrigerator. Pulling out a tub of ice cream, she wandered back to Garry, and sat down behind him, watching him draw as she ate.

"You're so good," she commented as she shoved a giant spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.

Spooked, Garry shakily turned around, and looked relieved when he saw Ib. "Thank you," he replied graciously. "Your painting is good too. It's very..."

He looked over to Ib's painting and stared at the circle for a while. He closed his mouth, and opened it again. After closing and opening his mouth for a while, which Ib stared at with mild interest, Garry finally finished. "...Simplistic?"

"Painting is hard," Ib declared.

"No it's not. It's just hard to become good," Garry replied confidently. Gesturing to his painting, he moaned, "Look at this tree! The green is too green! I tried to add more blue for the shadows, but now it's all wrong. Why can't I be amazing? This is so hard!"

"This is so hard!" Ib echoed.

Nodding, Garry eyed Ib's painting again. "I could probably help you improve your painting though," he stated. "What are you trying to paint?"

"A surprise," Ib replied firmly.

"Ah... A surprise, huh?" Garry replied, chuckling weakly. "Well, that makes things a bit difficult."

Ib shrugged in response.

"Well, I suppose you should start with sketching out the basic shapes," Garry advised, handing Ib a pencil.

Ib stared at the pencil, then to her canvas, then back to the pencil. "She has no basic shapes," Ib reported.

"I'm sure she has," Garry replied distractedly. Putting down his brush, Garry stood up. "We all have basic shapes. How about you sit over there and think?" Guiding Ib to a chair in the kitchen, Garry walked back to his painting, and called, "Clean up after you're done, okay?"

Ib grunted in reply as she stared out into the backyard and ate ice cream.

A couple minutes later, Garry heard the screech of a chair on the floor, water hitting a container, and then muffled footsteps growing louder. "I'm done," Ib announced.

Garry put down his paintbrush. "So quickly?" he asked. "Did you come up with any basic shapes?"  
"No."

"Oh, well..."

_Ding-dong!_

"Oh, that must be your mom," Garry exclaimed, looking relieved. "Ib, get your things."

Nodding, Ib ran off to get her school bag as Garry opened the front door. "Hello," he greeted. "Ib will be out soon. She's getting her things."

Ib's mother nodded and smiled. "Thank you so much for picking Ib up after school and letting her stay with you. I can't imagine how I had managed to get her picked up after school before you came along."

"There's no need to thank me, it's my pleasure," Garry replied politely as Ib brushed pass him, and into her mother's car.

"Ib, come back here," Ib's mother called.

Shoving her backpack into the car, Ib ran back, next to her mother.

"What do you say?"

"Thank you," Ib muttered.

"You're welcome," Garry replied. "Maybe tomorrow we can work on your painting together."

Ib nodded, and ran back to the car.

During recess the next day, Ib was bent over a piece of paper, carefully drawing rectangles, rhombuses, trapezoids, parallelograms, and blobs. Curious, a girl peered over Ib's shoulder. "Hey Ib, what are you doing?"

"Drawing," Ib replied simply.

"Drawing what?"

"Basic shapes."

"Oh..." The girl sat down next to Ib and pulled out a pencil and a piece of paper. She grinned. "That sounds fun! I'll draw too!"

Ib gave no response to the girl, and merely continued practicing her blobs.

They drew silently next to each other for a while until the bell signifying the end of recess rung.

Folding her paper up neatly, the girl handed it to Ib. "I drew something for you!" she giggled.

Ib looked at the folded up piece of paper, and took it awkwardly. "Thank... you," she replied uncertainly.

The girl grinned widely, and cheerily replied, "You're welcome!"

With a confused expression on her face, Ib lifted the corners of her mouth up in a polite attempt to smile at the incredibly cheerful classmate. The classmate seemed even more thrilled, and swore to draw even more pictures to make Ib happy because when Ib was happy, she was happy.

"Did something happen today, Ib?" Garry asked as his van crept forward.

Ib tilted her head, and looked at Garry with a confused expression.

"You looked fidgety, so I assumed you must be so excited, it was actually showing," Garry explained.

Nodding, Ib opened her backpack, and pulled out a scrap of paper. "I was practicing basic shapes during recess for my painting, " she begun, carefully unfolding the paper, "and...Well, just look."

Smoothing out the wrinkles of the paper, she held up the drawing.


End file.
